I'm being set up, says ex-KGB man

By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow

12:01AM GMT 24 Nov 2006

A former KGB bodyguard linked to Alexander Litvinenko yesterday admitted that he had taken tea with the Russian defector on the day he fell ill but vigorously denied any role in the apparent assassination attempt.

Breaking his silence in an interview with The Daily Telegraph last night, Andrei Lugovoi claimed he was the victim of a plot by unknown people to frame him.

"I have the feeling that someone is trying to set me up as the fall guy," he said in his Moscow office before the news of Mr Litvinenko's death broke. "But I can't understand who and I can't understand why.

"I am shocked by what is being said. I don't believe Alexander ever said anything to implicate me other than that we had a meeting. I believe that these allegations only came to light when he was already unconscious. I pray for his recovery."

Scotland Yard is believed to be seeking Mr Lugovoi, 40, and a second Russian, hitherto identified in the media only as Vladimir, to clarify the nature of their meeting at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square on November 1. Neither are being treated as suspects.

Mr Litvinenko is said to have told police that a taciturn man he knew only as Vladimir had offered him tea. Mr Lugovoi's decision to speak will help police to fill a crucial missing gap on the day it is believed the former Russian spy was poisoned. But it also raises as many questions as it answers.

Mr Lugovoi said there was no Vladimir at the meeting, which he said lasted between 20 minutes and half an hour. He identified the second Russian as Dmitry Kovtun, a business associate whom he said he had introduced to Mr Litvinenko the previous month

"We had nothing to eat, but I cannot remember if he had tea or not," he said. "But I'm 100 per cent certain that we did not offer him any because I was in a hurry."

Mr Lugovoi yesterday handed a statement to diplomats at the British embassy in Moscow. He said he was prepared to talk to Scotland Yard detectives either in Moscow or London.

During their conversation, Mr Lugovoi said he had mainly discussed a business deal with Mr Litvinenko. But he added that they had touched on "private" matters, details of which he would provide to the police. He declined to elaborate.

Although Mr Lugovoi said he had met Mr Litvinenko in London on several occasions over the past year to discuss business, he travelled to England to take his wife and three children to see CSKA Moscow play Arsenal in a Champions' League fixture.

Both men served in the KGB but did not know each other at the time. They met in 1996, by which time Mr Lugovoi was working as head of security for ORT, a television channel owned by the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Mr Litvinenko was also employed by the billionaire.

Much of the innuendo targeted at Mr Lugovoi has come from circles close to Mr Berezovsky.

After bumping into Mr Litvinenko in London in 2004, Mr Lugovoi said he received a telephone call from the defector inviting him to London to discuss a business deal.